Safety-guard for cars



A. SOFFEL. SAFETY GUARD FOR CARS.

(No Model.)

No. 521,966. Patented June 26, 1894.

AL\L\\\\\\\\\\\\\ nun c f H .E E f e La 0 Imp m: NATIONAL umuamwnma COMPANY,

WAGHINGYON. n. c.

"UNI TED. STATES ,AT NT O CE.

AUGUST SOFFEL, onniaooinrn, NEW YORK.

S FETY-GU FO R cARs.

srncrrrca'rxon romnng part of Letters Pa tent 'No. 521,966, dated June 26, 1894.

Application filed February 23, 1894; "Serial No. 501,097- I (No model.)

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, AUGUST sorru jof' Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Safety Guards for Railway- Qars, of whichthe following is a'specification. My invention relates to an improvement in safety'guards for railway cars, in which a 'cra-' wheels.

dle held normally above the rail in front of the wheels beneath the platform of thecar is automatically released by the engagement of the front of the car withan obstac'lelon the track, and also lowered into positi on'to catch. and hold suchobject from passingunderthe practicalembodiment of my invention is represented in the accompanyingdrawings, in

Figure] represents, in vertical longitudinal section, a portionof a car'platform and wheel, showing the position of the parts when the Fig. 2 is a similar-view, showing-the. position of the partsvwhen the front of'the car has met with an 'obstacle'and the guard has beenlowered into. position to catch the obstacle, and Fig. 3',

is a top plan view of the parts, theplatform of the car being removed to show the parts more clearly.

' A represents the platform of a car. a

B represents one of the wheels of the pair nearest the end of the carwhere the platform is located. In front of the wheels '13, a pair of hangers G, G depend. In the present instance the hangers O, G consist of circular tubes provided with slots along their front sides for the reception of the web d of guide pieces D, fitted to slide freely up and down within the tubes 0, G. The upper ends of the tubes G are'provided with flanges c for securing them to the under side of the platform of the car,

and suitable braces of any well known or approved form connect the tubes 0 O with the' 'falls, the wheels F, F serving to support it i with its face a short-distance above thelevel of the track. At its front edge the cradle E is provided with a roller fof some suitable yielding material, such for example as rubher, the object of the roller being to assist in passing the object struck rearwardly onto the face E of the cradle. It also serves, when catching against any unusual obstruction which may extend an unintentional distance above the level of the track. The cradle is held normally suspended by means of a lever G, pivotallyfsecuredto a'suitable support, as at g, and provided onits under side with a branchg', the free endof which, when the .lever is up in ahorizontal position, as shown in Fig.1, takes under the cross bar e tween the-opposite sides h of a housing H, the latter being ,fixed'by suitable braces to pivoted adog Lprovided on its under side with notches i and c" at different distances from the pivotal point of the dog and in position to receive the nose 9 on the lever G. The dog'l is provided with'a nose 1?, between which and the projection g on the lever G, the ends of the U-shaped .spring K are received. The spring K is clamped within the housing H so that its free ends cannot escape from between the nose of the'dog and the projection 9 on the lever G and theposition of the notches in the dog I, relatively to the nose 9 on the lever G are such that, when the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 1, the spring will have a greater effect upon the dog and will, through it, act upon the short end of the lever G with sufficient force tohold the lever G horizontally and hence the cradle in its elevated adj ustment. When, however, the dog'l is rocked into theposition G into the notch e, the spring K will have the greater effect upon the lever G and will force cradle by the contact of the lever with a rod e atthe rear end of the cradle.

'thecar. gWithin the same housing there is shown in Fig.2 to bring the ends of the lever it downwardly, releasing the cradle and at' the same time urging on the descent of the I a pair of rollersF, F, having flanged-rims so as to hold. the cradle on'the track when it the cradle is down, to prevent the cradle from firmly fixed to the guides D. The cradle is I find it convenient to pivot the lever G be-' Z of the rock shaft L, journaled in suitable bearings secured at the front end of the platform. The rock shaft L is provided with arms I in the free ends of which is journaled a roller M formed of some suitable yielding material, such for example as rubber. W hen the parts are in their normal position, shown in Fig. 1, the arms of the shaft L hang downwardly so that the roller M is in position to strike any obstacle on the track. The effect of striking an obstacle will be to swing the roller M rearwardly, thereby drawing the chain Zforwardly and so rocking the dog L as to release-the lever G and also lower the cradle into position. 1

It will be observed thatthe simple U shaped spring K is made to serve the double purpose of holding the cradle normally in elevated adjustment and also of urging it positively downward whenever it is released.

The device is quite simple and inexpensive, and is very effective in preventing an obstacle reachingthe wheels of the advancing car. It has the further advantage of requiring no mechanism extending outwardly beyond the front of the car into position where it would be liable to interfere with the passage of trucks or other Vehicles across the tracks in a crowded thoroughfare.

It is obvious that slight changes in the form and arrangement of the several parts might be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, hence I do not wish to limit myself strictly to the structure herein set forth, but

What I claim is 1. In combination, a vertically movable cradle, a lever for engaging and releasing the cradle, a dog in position to engage the lover, a spring engaged with the dog and lover and means for operating the dog, the said spring serving-when the parts are in their normal positionto hold the cradle elevated and when the dog is rocked, serving to force the cradle downwardly, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination with the vertically 1110 vable cradle, of a U-shaped cradle operating spring and a rocking dog and lever engaged with the spring and with each other for in anipulating the spring, whereby the cradle may be held suspended by the force of the spring and also forced downwardly by the spring, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination with the vertically movable eradle and its rollers, of a cradle operating spring, a lever engaged with the ,spring for holding and releasing the cradle, a rocking dog engaged with the spring and with the lever and a yielding fender in advance of the cradle and connected with the dog for automatically operating the cradle, substantially as set forth.

AUGUrT SOFFEL.

Witnesses:

FREDK. HAYNES, R. I SEWARD. 

